My main issue with repo’s is the large quantity that has been introduced into the market place as "genuine" items. This is especially true with unscrupulous sellers passing off high dollar items such as the DT saber figs, vinyl caped jawa, even recarded figures, IE Droids Fett, Vlix. Many collectors want only the real deal, so when the sellers state they are real only to be fakes, (and to me that is exactly what they are if they are sold as original) is not only illegal but immoral. Selling anything as original when it is not is what I define the basis of illegal, as in fraud. You are using a lie to perpetuate a profit.
There are some people that do reproduce items and take care in making an identifier cast in to alert others it is a repo, such as some of the Vlix and Rocket Fetts out there, they are clearly identifiable as recreations.
I can fully see that some people want to complete their items and will settle for repos to do that until vintage replacements can se found, I am OK with that and would never want to tell others they can't do it, for me, I don't I wait until I can find the real piece I need.
The issue then further dilutes it self when some uninformed or novice collectors buy these and then resell down the road is good faith that they have real items, this now muddies the water and promote uneasiness when hunting some of these more rare or hard to find items,
People are free to choose what they put in their collections, but I don’t buy them. I also work with others to help track sellers that do try to pass repos off as the real deal.
Now with regards to modern items, will this cause a controversy in 20 years? I don’t know, All I will say is that anything fan made should be sold or traded as such. I would take a pre-caution to selling these by adding an identifier of some kind to distinguish them from the real item. Add a piece of metal to the cast to make it magnetic, add a letter or a mark. I would, Then there is also the legal aspect of making and selling if the Lucas hounds ever came calling. Not saying they will but you never know what they will perceive as infringement. That’s another reason I would modify it in some way.
